Sheet-metal conveyer



J. \N, FREE SHEET F TAL CONVEYER Filed 0%. 4, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 uwz/vroe 2% 505' M66 &: Mam 5' W/YNES-SES Dec. 16, 1924- 1,5194% J. W. FREE SHEET METAL CONVEYER Filed 001;. 4, 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 V lNMfA/TOR W/T/VESSES p a 5 JOHN "\V. FREE, OF WOODLA'WN, PENNSYLVANIA.

SHEETJLCETAL CONVEYER.

Application filed October 4, 1923.

To cZZ 107mm it mcg concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN W. FREE, residing at Yvoodlawn, in the county of Beaver and State of Pennsylvania, a citizen of the United States, have invented or discovered certain new and useful Improvements in clheetMetal Conveyers, of which improvements the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in apparatus for conveying sheet material, and consists in improvements applicable to the mechanism which constitutes the subjectmatter of Letters Patentof the United States, No. 1, 52,921, granted me February 5, 1924:. This mechanism is developed specif ically as feed-mechanism, for feeding steel sheets one by one to a tin pot, in the course of producing what is known commercially as tin plate.

In the prior patent namec, mechanism is described for raising the sheets one by one from a pack which stands on edge, immersed in water, in a bosh and for transferring the sheets over a suitable guideway and for plunging them beneath the bath of molten tin in the tin pot. The specification of that prior patent explains that the individual sheet raised upwardly from the pack is carried edgewise over the curved surface of the 'guideway. The curvature of the guideway is described to be advantageous, in that the bending of the sheet upon it tends to free from it a second sheet, if by chance a second sheet adhering to it should be raised with it from the pack. The specification further explains that the surface of the rising sheet is exposed, and may be tapped with a hammer, and so a persistent adhesion between sheets may be broken, without disturbance of the normal operation of the machine.

In a second application, filed February 2, 1923, Serial No. 616,518, I have described and claimed an accessory appliance which, cooperating with the apparatus which constitutes the subject-matter of the patent first-named, tends additionally to break adhesions between sheets, before the lifting of the sheet from the bosh begins; My present invention concerns accessory appliances, adapted to cooperate with the apparatus of my patent first-named, and tending additionally to break adhesions between sheets forming a double, after the sheets have been raised from the bosh and are advancing over the guideway. The appliances which constitute my present invention may if desired be Serial No. 666,546.

used conjointly with those of my second application, Serial No. 616,518.

in the accompanying drawings Fig. I is a view in side elevation of so much of the tin-pot feeding apparatus as is necessary to afford understanding of my present invention, and in this figure the accessory apparatus in which my present invention is found, appears in organized assembly with the other parts. F II is a view in front elevation of the same assembly. The line of view of Fig. II is indicated by an arrow 11, Fig. I.

In these drawings the tin pot is not shown, but it will be understood to be situated at the extreme: left, Fig. I, and arranged to receive the sheets as they advance one by one downward over the left-hand slope of the guideway.

2 is the bosh filled with water, in which the freshly pickled sheets are introduced, and where they rest upon edge in a. pack 5 which stands in approximately vertical position. The position is, however, not exactly vertical, the sheets inc-line somewhat, in a direction away from the tin pot. The plane in which the sheet lies in the pack 8 is in this instance parallel to the line upon which the sheet ultimately enters the bath of tin in the tin pot.

Between the bosh 2 and the tin pot extend the upwardly arched approximately semicircular ways 11, over which the sheets are carried one by one from the bosh to the tin pot. The downward slope (the left-hand slope, Fig. I) of these ways is magnetized, to the end that the descending sheet shall not fall, but, pushed from behind, shall advance under control and be plunged gradually and at a properly controlled and uniform speed beneath the bath of molten metal in the tin pot.

Means for disengaging from the pack S the topmost sheet, and for raising it and dragiging it upon the upward slope of ways 11 are found inja bell-crank lever 15. This lever is fulcrumed upon the free end of a beam let which at its remote end is pivoted in a fixed support. The bell-crank lever is linked also to the rotatable power shaft The range of swing of beam 1% is fixed within narrow limits. The work-arm of bell-crank lever 15 is extensible and contractible, telescopically, and is at its free end equipped with suction cups. When both beam 14 and bell-crank lever 15 have turned to the limit of their ranges clockwise, as seen in Fig. I, and when the work-arm of the bell-crank lever, being then downwardly and outwardly inclined, has extended and has suctionally engaged the outermost sheet of pack S, the continued rotation of shaft 8 is effective, first to swing beam 1 1 anticlockwise, and to cause the work-arm of the bell-crank lever (now extended) to recede in right-to-left direction, carrying with it the suctionally engalged sheet. As soon as beam 14-- has reached the limit of its swing, continued turning of shaft 3 causes bellcrank lever 15 to turn anti-clockwise on its fulcrum, and in so doing to raise the engaged sheet ed'gewise and to drag it upward over ways 11. All these matters are fully described in the first of my prior applications mentioned above.

Cams 46 may be provided (not shown in my first application) whereby Suction may be exerted upon the sheet as the cups engage it, and a stop 47 may be provided, for relieving the vacuum within the cups as the lever 15 approaches the limit of itsrange of upward movement. These features will be understood without further elaboration, and they are incidental to the elucidation of my present invention. Suflice it to repeat that'the cuprequipped lever engages the top most sheet of the pack, swings it aside from the pack, then lifts it edgewise anddrags it along ways 11, until itis engaged by other instrumentalities. Then the suction is broken and the lever 15, free of the sheet just carried,,swings-down again, to engage a new sheet.

Coming now to the particular features in which my present invention resides, I call attention, first,,to the disk or roller 48. It is idly mounted on an axis parallel-to the axis of curvature of ways 11 and to the pathway of sheet advance. It is placed at a carefully determined interval from ways 11, and, as appears in Fig. I, approximately midway of the quadrant to which the rising right-hand portion of the ways 11 isshaped. The disk is arranged to be engaged by the outer surface of a double (that is to say, two sheets accidentally adhering together) borne by the rising bell-crank lever15, and to exert immediately upon the outer and undesired member of the double a frictional dnag upon its'advance,a yielding resistanceto advance. To this end the disk is, as has been said, idly-mounted, and is formed of elastic material, conveniently of rubber. The function of the disk is to ex ert a 'drag, insufiicient to disturb normal. operation, but, in. case of adhesion and the accidental raising of a double (the friction of the roll being greater upon the dOL'tblB thickness than upon the normal single sheet), the friction will tend to break the adhesion, and allow the released sheet to fall back again by gravity and to resume its position with respect to stack S, ready to be transferred in proper time, with the next swing of lever 15.

A pipe 19 extends athwart the path of the sheets upon ways 11. It is supplied with compressed air, and delivers com- At a suitable point in the extent of arched guide ways 11, and preferably as shown near the crown of the arch, is'arranged a magnetic roller 51. It is mounted upon an axis parallel to the axis of curvature of ways 11 and to the pathway of sheet advance, and. it is positively driven, as by a sprocket drive 52, and at a surface speedwhich is different from and: which-preferably exceedssomewhat the speed at whichthe sheets are carried normally over ways The roller 51 is arranged at such an interval from ways 11 that, in case ofadhesion, adhering sheets borne by bell-crank lever 15 will pass beneath it, but that its magnetic effect andv if desired the friction of its contact will be exerted upon the outer and fortuitously adhering sheet. The forces of friction and magnetism are not, however, so great as to'mterfere with the'normal progress of the intended sheet over ways 11.

As particularly shown inFig. II. the mag netic roller may be made up of a plurality of sheet-engaging and separated sections, to which the numeral 51 is repeatedly and particularly applied, and these sheet-engaging sections are preferably the magnetically active sections.

Fig. II shows also that in the particular installation; illustrated three conveyers are arranged in a row together, and that the magnetic rollers of all three may be arranged anddriven as a unit. Also a single air-blastpipe 49 may serve all. Also, three friction rollers 48 are shown,.one for each conveyer. Of course there might be a plurality of rollers 18 forone section, arranged on a common axis, orv arranged to be en.- gaged successively.

Adjacent to and cooperating with the magnetic roller 51 aseries of-bars 53 for1n a runway for sheetsv accidentally carriedby the intended sheets and separated from adhesion to, the intendedsheets by the action of roller 51. This runway is conveniently level surfaced and horizontally arranged; extending above the arched ways 11, spacedat a small interval from the ways at the crown of the arclnand extending onbothsides beyond the point of approximate tangency.

The jets blow upon the surface of On one side this runway extends adjacent to magnetic roller 51 and there forms with the surface of ways 11 a throat or gullet, narrowing in the direction of normal sheet advance (anti-clockwise, Fig. I). It will be perceived that the sheet normally borne upon ways 11 enters this gullet and advances beneath runway 53 along its normal and in tended course without interference, but that a fortuitously adhering sheet, drawn aside and lifted by roller 51, advances above runway 53, and is by its own impetus, de rived from adhesion to the sheet intended to be carried and by the added impetus given by roller 51, advanced upon runway testing there, it may readily be picked up by an attendant and returned to the bosh 2.

But it will be observed that the separation is automatic, and takes place without disturbance of the proper and intended course of the sheet immediately engaged by the suction cups.

The magnetic roller, powerdriven, as has been said, is driven preferably at a surface speed somewhat exceeding the speed at which the cup-bearing bell-crank lever 15 normally advances the sheets upon ways 11. It is of course desirable to give the separated sheet momentum to carry it forward upon runway 53 but, apart from that, a difference in speed and, as preferably will be the case, an excess in speed in this particular is disruptive in its effect, tending to break and assisting in the breaking of the adhesions, in consequence of which a double may have been lifted from the bosh.

It will be perceived that the force of magnetism alone, being exerted upon the nearer sheet more powerfully than the sheet more remote, will, tend to effect separation. It will be apparent that roll-er rotation 00- operating with magnetism will increasingly tend to effect separation. But, additionally, the differential speed of roller 51 already spoken of has a disrupting effect which, cooperating with magnetism, tends to effect separation.

It will also be perceived (and this is mentioned in the specification of my patent named above) that the bending of the sheet upon the arched face of ways 11, itself tends to break adhesions. Particularly the forward edges of doubles when so bent upon the ways tend to separate. Such being the case, the runway arranged as has been specitied may itself be efiective, without the cooperation of roller 51, to effect the stripping of the adhering sheet from the sheet intended to he carried. Or, if rotation be taken away, and the roller 51 be left to serve as a magnet merely, this stationary magnet, properly spaced from ways 11 and properly positioned with respect to the edge of runway 58, will cooperate with the rack to strip away the fortuitously adhering sheet. In these instances just indicated, the roller being absent, or if, present, being stationary and constituting nothing more than a stationary magnet, it is the impetus imparted to the adhering sheet through the sheet to which it adheres which is effective to accomplish stripping.

It will be perceived that by forming the magnetic roller 51 in sections, as I show and describe it, sections, and in these spaces the sheet-moving instrumentalities may have free access to the rear edges of the sheet.

I provide retaining bars 54 arranged concentrically with the adjacent ways and spaced at an interval from said ways and properly arranged with respect to the sheetadvancing means, to the end that, as the sheet at its forward edge approaches runway 53 it will be held rearwardly by bars to approximate conformity to the arched shape of the ways. This provision not only positions the rear edge of the sheet for engagement by pushers, but it increases and makes sure a bowing of the sheet, such as to tend more certainly to break adhesions, and release doubles.

I claim as my invention:

1. In conveying apparatus for sheet metal of magnetic character the combination with arched ways and means for advancing a sheet thereon, a runway extending to one side of the pathway of material upon said arched ways and at its receiving edge spaced at an interval from said arched ways, and a magnet arranged adjacent to and at an interval from said arched ways and adjacent the receiving edge of said runway.

2. In conveying apparatus for sheet metal of magnetic character the combination with arched ways and means for advancing a sheet of metal thereon, a runway extending to one side of the pathway of material upon said arched ways and at its receiving edge spaced at an interval from said arched ways, and a rotatable magnetic roller arranged adjacent to and at an interval from said arched ways and adjacent the receiving edge of said runway, and means for rotating said magnetic roller.

3. In conveying apparatus for conveying sheet metal of magnetic character means for causing a sheet to advance along a fixed pathway and a rotating magnetic roller extending athwart the pathway and rotating at a surface speed different from the speed of sheet advance as detern'iined by the means first named.

4. The method herein described of separating adhering sheets of magnetic material which consists in subjecting the adhering sheets on one side to one propelling impulse and on the other side to the influence of a magnetic roller turning at a surface speed difierentfrom the speed of spaces are left between the advance imparted by the propelling impulse first named.

5. In conveyingapparatus for sheet metal the combinationof'arched Ways and means for advancing. a sheet upon said Ways in conformity to the archedshape thereofland a friction disk adapted to bear upon thesurface-0i a double-advancing upon said Ways andexert upon the member of the double immediately engaged resistance to advance upon said Ways.

6. In conveying, apparatus for sheet metal the combination With arched Ways, means for causing sheets to advance upon said Ways in conformity to the archedshape thereof, an idle roller of upwardly rising elastic material adapted to engage the surface of; adouble fortuitouslyadvancing on said Ways, a positively driven magnetic roller spacedat an interval from the path of a sheet upon said Ways and'at a point' in thevextent of the path beyond said elastic JOHN W.

Witnesses:

Gr. LPIJANE, J. J. WISHBURN. 

